


most of our pleasures

by Spikedluv



Category: Primeval
Genre: Age Difference, Community: rounds_of_kink, M/M, Pre-Series, Teacher-Student Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-11
Updated: 2017-09-11
Packaged: 2018-12-26 14:56:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12061308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spikedluv/pseuds/Spikedluv
Summary: Nick insists he doesn’t need an assistant, and then Stephen walks in.





	most of our pleasures

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place at some indeterminate time pre-series.
> 
> Written for Round 31 of [Rounds of Kink](http://rounds-of-kink.livejournal.com/) for the prompt: _Primeval, Nick Cutter/Stephen Hart, Age difference, power imbalance (student-teacher), Nick knew that Helen was sleeping with one of her students, so he determined to steal him away from her. Nick gets more than he bargained for._ This story is not quite as true to the kinky nature of the prompt as one might be expecting; it’s more like ‘inspired by’.
> 
> Written: September 11, 2017
> 
> _Objects we ardently pursue bring little happiness when gained; most of our pleasures come from unexpected sources. ~Herbert Spencer_

Nick balled up the letter he’d received from the Dean of the Department of Evolutionary Zoology – the instruction to hire a teaching assistant typed up on official Central Metropolitan University letterhead – and aimed for the trash can that had a dozen similarly balled-up projectiles scattered on the floor around it.

A soft knock on the doorframe drew Nick’s attention to the student standing in the open doorway to his office.

“Excuse me, Professor Cutter,” said the young man. He held up a slip of paper. “The Dean sent me?”

Nick dropped his feet from the corner of his desk and held out his hand impatiently as he stood. The man strolled down the stairs as if he was in no hurry and handed the paper to Nick. It turned out to be a note written in Dean Phillips’ hand. *This is Stephen Hart. He’s here to interview for the assistant position. He comes highly recommended.*

“I don’t need an assistant,” Nick insisted, despite the strong suggestion that he accept the inevitable.

The grad student, Stephen Hart, if the Dean’s note was to be believed, glanced around Nick’s office, every surface overflowing with artifacts and papers, then returned his serene gaze to Nick. “I can see that,” he said with a straight face. “Why don’t we go through the motions anyway so neither one of us has to lie to the Dean.”

“You’re a wise ass, aren’t you?” Nick said. “I’ll have you know, everything in here is perfectly organized.”

“Perfectly organized chaos,” Stephen said, which was something that Helen had said to him on more than one occasion.

Nick narrowed his eyes and took a closer look at Stephen. He knew that Helen had slept with more than one student, but he rarely knew who they were. She was normally quite discreet, except for those times she didn’t wish to be.

“What is your experience?” Nick said.

As Nick had suspected he would do, Stephen included a semester working as Helen’s assistant in his list. Nick hadn’t expected the expeditions Stephen had already participated in, though, or his tracking and weapons abilities, and he had to struggle to hide how impressed he was by them.

“What makes you uniquely qualified for this job in particular?” Nick pushed, looking for a reason, any reason, to turn Stephen down.

“I don’t scare easily . . .” Which meant that news of Nick’s sometimes acerbic tone, which had been responsible for scaring off more than one assistant, had become common knowledge. “. . . and I can file.”

“I told you,” Nick began.

“You’ve got a system, yes,” Stephen said. He kept his lips from twitching, but he couldn’t hide the mirth in his eyes.

“Fuck you, Stephen,” Nick said lightly. “What would you do with the papers on that chair, then?” Nick indicated one of the chairs in front of his desk, neither of which could be used to seat a visitor at the moment.

Stephen studied the pile which some might say teetered precariously on the seat, but Nick knew was perfectly balanced. “The sections . . .” Stephen indicated the various sections of the pile that laid crosswise to each other. “Do you need to keep them separated like that?”

“Yes,” Nick said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Do you have boxes or cabinets?”

Nick tilted his head. “In the back.”

Stephen gave Nick a look as if he wasn’t sure whether he was taking the piss, but then he turned and made his way through the room with a careless stride that still somehow managed to keep him from knocking into anything. When Stephen disappeared behind a shelf that created a natural barrier between the two sides of the room, Nick lowered himself back into the chair behind his desk and waited.

“You have three file cabinets back here!” Stephen called. A moment later Stephen appeared around the shelf, an expression of disbelief on his face. “They’re all empty!”

“I like to have this information right at hand,” Nick said.

Stephen shook his head. Without saying a word he stomped up the stairs and disappeared. Nick, figuring that was that, went back to work. He’d barely found the spot where he’d left off reading before he opened the Dean’s letter and gotten back into the journal article when Stephen returned with a flattened box in one hand and a fistful of office supplies that Nick couldn’t quite make out without taking a closer look, which he refused to do.

Nick continued to read, ignoring Stephen while he folded the flat piece of cardboard into a box. Nick couldn’t deny that Stephen had his attention, though. He pretended to read while he watched Stephen attack the task that Nick had set him. Stephen took the pile off the chair one section at a time, placing them in the box with a tabbed divider between them, until the box was full. He carried the box back to the file cabinets and returned a few minutes later with an empty box that he proceeded to fill until the chair was once more fit for its intended purpose.

Once that batch had been filed in a drawer of one of the file cabinets, Stephen returned and stood in front of Nick’s desk with the empty box hanging from one hand. Nick had to admit that he was impressed with Stephen’s persistence.

“Can you make tea?”

“Yes,” Stephen said.

Nick waited. Stephen waited.

Nick broke first. He gestured towards the kitchenette he’d unintentionally created by bringing in a single-burner hot plate and a mini-fridge for the sake of convenience. And also because the tea in the faculty lounge was rubbish.

“Oh,” Stephen said, “you wanted me to make you tea now? You should’ve said.”

“I have enough passive aggressive in my life, Stephen,” Nick muttered to Stephen’s back as he made himself at home in the kitchenette, “I don’t need it in my assistant, too.”

“Does that mean I’ve got the job?” Stephen said as he poured water into the kettle.

“That depends on how the tea comes out,” Nick equivocated. He went back to the article, but couldn’t focus on it with the sounds of Stephen moving around.

Nick was still staring at the same page when Stephen set a mug of tea in front of him. He stared at the liquid, which looked just as dark and strong as he liked it, then took a sip. It was perfect. Nick gave Stephen a suspicious glare. “How did you know how I like my tea?”

“Gossip,” Stephen said.

Nick raised an eyebrow. “People gossip about how I drink my tea?”

“I’ve heard a rumor that your heart is as black as the way you like your tea.”

“Now you’re taking the piss with me.”

The corners of Stephen’s mouth curled up. “I’ll let the Dean know that the position’s been filled, then, shall I?”

“No one likes a wise ass, Stephen.”

Stephen laughed. Nick studied Stephen’s face, but he appeared to be truly amused. It had been a long time since Nick had made anyone laugh.

“I suppose there’s some paperwork I need to fill out, then.”

“All filled out,” Stephen said as he withdrew a folded piece of paper from his back pocket and smoothed it flat on Nick’s desk. “You just need to sign it.”

“Someone was pretty confident,” Nick said as he affixed his signature to the form.

“You’ll have to talk to the Dean about that,” Stephen said.

Stephen was already running late for class, but he offered to drop the form off on his way. Nick stared at the copy of Stephen’s class schedule, which he’d nonchalantly dropped onto Nick’s desk before he left, and wondered what he’d gotten himself into.

~*~

Nick, still a little perturbed that an assistant had been foisted upon him, put Stephen through his paces. When Stephen wasn’t busy with office hours or grading quizzes, he was working his way through the remaining piles of papers that Nick was reluctantly letting him file in the cabinets. Stephen did whatever Nick asked of him without complaint.

One day Nick returned to his office after a particularly trying session of first years asking him when various deadlines were, as if he hadn’t handed out a syllabus at the first class, to find Stephen studying one of Nick’s artifacts.

“Tough class?” Stephen said when he saw the expression on Nick’s face.

Nick’s glower in response, which would’ve made most grad students shake in their boots, merely made Stephen chuckle.

“I’ve started your tea. It would need to steep for another decade before it’s strong enough for you, but it do well enough if you pour it now.”

“You’re a godsend, Stephen,” Nick said before he could censor himself. He dropped his bag on a recently cleared chair in front of his desk and headed for the kitchenette where the tea was indeed steeping, the mug already set out for him.

When Nick turned back to his desk, Stephen was sitting in the other chair, the artifact he’d been studying cradled carefully in his hands. “Tell me about this one.”

The artifact happened to be one of Nick’s favorites, in part because it was the first one he’d discovered himself, and he loved to tell the story. He didn’t get the chance lately because there weren’t many people who hadn’t already heard the story a million times and who weren’t afraid to tell him that they didn’t want to hear it again.

“Draconyx,” Nick said as he settled himself into the chair behind his desk, mug cupped in his hands. “An herbivore from the Jurassic period. I found that when I was on vacation in Portugal. It wasn’t even a University sponsored expedition, just a weekend hike.”

Stephen looked genuinely interested, and Nick warmed to his topic as the story unfolded.

~*~

The day Stephen filed the last pile of papers, leaving a good third of the surfaces in Nick’s office clear, Nick said, “Congratulations, Stephen. Though you do realize that you’ve now given me space to accumulate more papers.”

“That’s not funny,” Stephen said.

“What’s your next project?” Nick said, knowing that Stephen had been eyeing up the artifacts.

As Nick had suspected, Stephen suggested that he organize the artifacts. “Do you have an inventory?”

“Why would I need an inventory?” Nick said, pretending to be paying no attention to Stephen’s deep sigh and muttered, “Of course you don’t.”

“Before you start on that, you should take a break.” Nick dropped half the stack of papers he’d pulled out of his bag onto the other side of his desk. “Help me grade these exams.”

“How is that a break?” Stephen said as he obligingly took a seat across from Nick, catching the red pen Nick tossed to him out of the air.

“We can make fun of the essays,” Nick said. “And I’ll take you out for a pint after as a reward for your hard work.”

Stephen accepted the drink offer, but he declined to make fun of the first years’ essay responses. His resolve crumpled after he read the first one. Nick was kind enough to not call him on it.

~*~

During a break from grading, while Stephen got up to stretch and Nick very deliberately didn’t stare at him, Stephen took out his phone and texted someone. Once Stephen had most of a pint in him he admitted that he’d had to cancel plans in order to take Nick up on the offer of drinks. Nick tried to cut the evening short, assuring Stephen that they could do this on another night, but Stephen wouldn’t hear of it.

“You’re right,” Stephen said with a slight curve of the corners of his mouth, “I deserve this after filing all those papers.”

“Not to mention grading those exams,” Nick said, though what was usually the worst part of his night had actually been fun when shared with Stephen. He and Stephen thunked their mugs together and took another drink.

It wasn’t until Helen later mention that she’d come home early because her meeting had been canceled that Nick’s suspicions about Helen and Stephen once more crossed his mind. A few days after that Nick got the petty notion to thwart Helen by keeping her and Stephen apart.

Nick pretended to be put out about it (it wouldn’t do for anyone to think he’d gone soft), but agreed to take an active role in organizing the artifacts. While Stephen carefully dusted the shelves and found clear acrylic boxes to display the more delicate objects, Nick identified them and told the stories of how he came to be in possession of them. Between classes and exams, the project often kept them at the University late into the nights.

Nick was surprised to realize that he often lost track of time, and the long hours he spent with Stephen was more often because he enjoyed the other man’s company rather than a deliberate attempt to keep him and Helen apart.

When the project was finally completed, the artifacts were neatly organized with small identifying placards beside each one. Stephen had been working on another project unbeknownst to Nick and he presented Nick with a binder of the notes he’d typed up. Nick didn’t consider himself an emotional person, but he got a little bit choked up as he turned page after page that set forth the stories Nick had told Stephen while they worked.

“Thank you, Stephen,” Nick said. He laid his hand on Stephen’s shoulder and squeezed. “This is probably the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.”

“You’re welcome.”

Nick cleared his throat and moved away from Stephen. He stared at his desk. “I’m afraid to put this down in case I lose it under a pile of papers.”

“I thought everything was organized in here,” Stephen teased. He approached Nick and carefully took the binder out of his hands, then found a place for it on the newly organized bookshelf behind Nick’s desk.

“When did you do that?” Nick said, noticing for the first time that all of his bookshelves had been reorganized.

Stephen rolled his eyes, but gave Nick an indulgent look. “Here and there over the past weeks when I had time.”

“When did you have time? I kept you too busy at it was,” Nick said, realizing that he’d been very unfair to Stephen in his quest to inconvenience Helen.

Stephen shrugged. “I didn’t mind.”

Nick wondered if the flush that appeared on Stephen’s skin was a product of bad lighting. “In fact, I’ve kept you working late too many nights,” he said. “You should go out and have fun tonight.”

“Actually,” Stephen said, “we already have plans.”

“We do?” Nick said, trying to recall making plans.

“Yes,” Stephen said boldly. “A pint, as reward for a job well done.”

Nick bit back a smile. “I don’t remember making those plans.”

Stephen waited Nick out, and Nick eventually caved. “I suppose that could be arranged.”

~*~

The Dean stopped by the following week. He looked around Nick’s office as if he’d never seen the place before. To be fair, he’d become the Dean long after Nick had moved into his office, so he probably had never seen it look like this before.

“Dean Phillips,” Nick said. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“How do you feel about Wales?”

“I stay as far away from them as I can,” Nick said.

Phillips, used to Nick’s odd humor by now, merely gave him a look. “Cardiff University is hosting this year’s Evolutionary Zoology Conference. You’ll be presenting on behalf of CMU. Get me some outlines.”

With another look around the office, Phillips left Nick alone with the ideas whirling around inside his head until a knock at the door brought him out of his thoughts.

“You’re going to be late for class,” Stephen said.

Nick was late, but it was worth it to see the excitement on Stephen’s face when he told him about the reason for Phillips’ visit. Nick had presented at the Conference when CMU hosted it several years ago, but the honor had been rotated through the department when they’d been asked to present. Perhaps it was going through his old artifacts with Stephen, but Nick had half a dozen ideas now.

Between revising the syllabus for the next semester’s Intro to Evolutionary Zoology and grading papers and office hours, Nick and Stephen brainstormed ideas, then put together draft outlines for three different possible papers.

When Nick delivered the outlines to the Dean’s office, Phillips handed him a piece of paper in return. “Since you’re here. That way I won’t have to hunt you down.”

Nick glanced at the paper; the form to assign Stephen as his assistant for the following semester. Nick only hesitated a moment before signing it. “Does Stephen know?” he said as he straightened.

“No, but since he’s the only assistant you’ve had who’s lasted this long without a single complaint, much less tears, you’re keeping him.”

It wasn’t a hardship, but Nick had a reputation to maintain. “I was doing fine without an assistant,” he insisted.

“Sure you were,” Phillips said. “Now get out of my office.”

“What are you smiling about?” Helen said when Nick ran into her on the way back to his office.

“I just turned in three outlines for the conference,” Nick told her.

Helen smiled and touched Nick’s arm. “Congratulations,” she said before turning to head to class. “Don’t forget, I’ll be late tonight,” she called back over her shoulder.

Since there was rarely a night Nick sat at home waiting for her these days, he merely waved a hand at her and continued on to his office.

“You’re stuck with me for another semester,” Nick told Stephen the next time he saw him.

“Could be worse, I guess,” Stephen said.

“How?” Nick said, then spoke at the same time Stephen did. “Professor Collins!”

They both laughed, and Nick ignored the way his heart fluttered at the sight of Stephen’s smile.

~*~

Phillips got back to Nick and suddenly he was spending every free minute doing additional research for his paper. As was Stephen, when he wasn’t working on his own thesis. Most evenings Stephen could be found sitting across from Nick at the table they’d set up for the purpose of stacking books and other research materials upon, whatever he was working on.

One night Nick found himself watching Stephen pour over research. “You should get out and do something fun.”

“This is fun,” Stephen said without raising his head.

“More fun than drinks with your friends?”

“Are you inviting me out for another pint?” Stephen said. Even though Nick couldn’t see his face, he could tell that the corners of his mouth had turned up.

“No,” Nick said. “I meant with your friends, people your own age. You were . . . seeing someone before, weren’t you?” Nick fished.

Stephen shook his head. “That’s over.”

Nick’s chest felt as if someone had stepped on it. “I’m sorry,” he said, which sounded stupid to his own ears, because Stephen had probably been sleeping with Helen, and even though they’d long since stopped acting or feeling like husband and wife, they were still married, and Nick had at one time had the brilliant idea to sabotage that relationship. “Is it because I keep you too busy?” he said, not knowing whether he wanted Stephen to say that it had been his fault.

“No,” Stephen said, and again Nick thought he saw a faint flush color Stephen’s cheek. “It was winding down.” He raised his head and looked right at Nick. “I’m not heartbroken, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“I’m glad for that,” Nick said. Nick didn’t want to think too much about why that was. He stuck a scrap of paper in the book he’d been reading to mark the page, then closed it with a loud thunk before dropping it onto the table. “Let’s go.”

“Go where?” Stephen said, already closing his own book.

“To Ruddy’s,” Nick said, naming the pub close to campus where faculty and students alike hung out.

“What’s the occasion?” Stephen said as he packed his bag.

Nick hesitated, then said, “You’re the best assistant I’ve ever had, Stephen.”

“Well, I win on longevity . . .”

“No, don’t,” Nick said. “Don’t turn it into a joke because I’ve been told that I sometimes forget to say important things like that, and I don’t want you to ever think that I take you for granted. Not many people, probably no one, would’ve taken on . . .” Nick gestured to the whole office, but he meant himself. “It was quite a project, and you’ve been a great help to me.”

“Well,” Stephen said, “thank you. But it’s a work in progress, so don’t think I won’t need more of these down the road.”

“Pints?” Nick said.

“That, too,” Stephen said as he slung his bag over his shoulder.

~*~

Nick met with Phillips and then spent the next three weeks writing the paper for the conference while Stephen brought him food and mugs of tea brewed strong enough to grow hair even on Nick’s amply hairy chest, took over his Intro class, graded quizzes, and helped Nick find that one citation he’d forgotten to get.

Late one afternoon Nick was standing in the middle of his office with his fingers tugging at his hair as he tried to remember if he’d eaten that day. The smell of Indian spices had him turning around to stare at Stephen with a wide-eyed expression that made the other man smile and shake his head.

“Did you even go home last night?” Stephen said.

“Um,” Nick said.

“You’re going to make yourself sick.”

“I’m inspired, Stephen!”

“You’re ridiculous.” Stephen set the take-away container on Nick’s desk. “Eat something before you pass out.”

“Thank you, Stephen,” Nick said.

Stephen gave Nick a surprised look at the serious tone in Nick’s voice. “You’re welcome. It’s just Punjabi Chicken. I got it on the mild side so it didn’t keep you up all night.”

“I don’t mean the food,” Nick said. “Not _just_ the food,” he corrected. “For everything. For the, the tea, and the . . .” Nick gestured towards the empty chair where a pile of papers used to sit. “For putting up with me.”

“It’s not a hardship, Nick,” Stephen said.

“Still,” Nick said. “I’m going to owe you more than a pint after this article’s finished.”

“Dinner?” Stephen teased.

“Yes, fine, dinner,” Nick agreed. If he hadn’t been awake for over 36 hours he might’ve thought better of it. “But don’t make light of it. You’ve . . . lightened a load I didn’t even know I was carrying. I’d buried myself in my work . . .”

“You’re still buried in your work,” Stephen pointed out. His tone was reasonable, but Nick could tell that he was pleased.

“It doesn’t feel like it,” Nick said.

Nick had seen Stephen angry, amused, indulgent, upset, laughing, but he’d never seen his face go soft the way it did now. Stephen stepped closer and touched Nick’s arm. Nick let him, even brought his other hand up to rest on Stephen’s shoulder. When Stephen leaned in and pressed their lips together, Nick let him do that, too.

Nick’s fingers tightened on Stephen’s shoulder and he kissed Stephen back for a long, wonderful moment before he remembered where they were, and who they were. Nick reluctantly broke the kiss and took a step back, letting his hand slide off of Stephen’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Stephen,” Nick said. “That was a mistake.” He ignored the flash of hurt in Stephen’s eyes, the way his expression closed up. “You’re still a student here, and my assistant, and I just can’t. I’m not Helen,” Nick said before he could censor himself.

Stephen’s eyes went wide and he looked like he didn’t know how to respond to Nick’s comment. Then, his voice strangled, he said, “You knew.”

“About Helen, yes,” Nick said. “She doesn’t try to hide it anymore. About you and Helen, no, I didn’t know, Stephen, but I suspected.”

Stephen swallowed hard and took a step back, putting more space between them. “Why did you hire me?”

“I don’t know,” Nick said. But he did. “You were a bit hard to say no to. And frankly, you were a breath of fresh air in what had become a stale life.”

Stephen looked like he wanted to argue Nick’s assessment, but he was still too shocked at the admission that Nick had known about his affair with Helen.

They both needed time to adjust now that the truth was out. “Thank you for the food, Stephen. I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Stephen said.

~*~

Nick didn’t see Stephen for three days despite the fact that he still took Nick’s Intro class and graded quizzes and held office hours. When he did finally show up he stood in the doorway looking sheepish.

“Nick, I . . .”

“You’re just in time!” Nick said, not letting Stephen apologize for taking the time he’d needed. After all, it had been Nick’s fault in the first place. He raised a stack of papers fastened with a binder clip over his head and waved it at Stephen. “Want to be my first reader?”

“You’re done?” Stephen said, excited, then self-conscious. “Are you sure . . . ?”

“Only if you’ve got the time,” Nick said, giving Stephen an out if he wanted to take it. “I know you’re working on your own thesis.”

“Of course I’ve got time!” Stephen dropped his bag on the chair closest to him in front of Nick’s desk and reached up to take the print-out from his hand. Nick tightened his grip at first, making Stephen tug on it, releasing it and laughing only when Stephen gave him an exasperated look.

“I’ll leave you alone so you don’t feel like I’m peering over your shoulder,” Nick said.

Nick made Stephen a mug of tea before he left, adding a splash of milk and placing it on the desk at his elbow. Stephen gave Nick a questioning look, but he didn’t ask, so Nick didn’t have to tell.

Nick ran home to shower. He ordered take-away and while he was waiting for it stepped into a gift shop to browse. Nick laughed when he saw the design on one of the t-shirts. After a moment’s hesitation he searched for a size that would fit Stephen and purchased it.

Stephen was still reading when Nick returned. It appeared that he’d started at the beginning again, and this time he held a red pen between his fingers. Nick tried to ignore the butterflies that fluttered around his stomach. He’d never been this nervous when Helen had read his work.

“Can you take a break?” Nick said, indicating the bag of take-away.

“You didn’t have to bring me food,” Stephen said.

“I know,” Nick said. “I wanted to. I also got you a ‘sorry I made this awkward’ gift.”

Stephen caught the package Nick tossed at him. “You didn’t make things awkward.”

“I should’ve been honest about my suspicions from the beginning instead of blurting it out like that,” Nick said.

“I shouldn’t have kissed you,” Stephen said.

“I shouldn’t have kissed you back,” Nick said. He watched the realization dawn on Stephen’s face that Nick had in fact kissed him back before pulling away. “We could do this back and forth all day, Stephen, but I’d rather that you open your gift so we can eat.”

“Well, I wouldn’t want to stand in the way of your stomach getting fed,” Stephen said.

“No, you wouldn’t.” Nick set out the food and pretended to not be listening very carefully as Stephen drew the t-shirt out of the bag, pulled off the tissue paper it had been wrapped in, and unfolded it. Nick grinned at the sound of Stephen’s laugh. Nick finally allowed himself to look up; Stephen was holding the t-shirt, which had a picture of a T-Rex and said Dino-Mite! on the front, against himself and looking at Nick.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I thought it was appropriate.”

“Did you?” Stephen said.

Nick did his best to ignore the fondness in Stephen’s voice.

~*~

Nick worked with Stephen to make corrections to his paper, then he asked Helen to read it because he knew she would be brutal. With the actual work of researching and writing the paper out of the way, Nick tried to forget about the conference. Things with Stephen got back to normal once Nick was able to take back teaching his Intro class and assisting with grading papers.

Well, almost normal. Stephen appeared to have put the kiss and Nick’s blunder out of his mind, but it was all that Nick could think about. From the very start Stephen had somehow managed to get past Nick’s defenses.

Without Nick realizing it, colleagues began stopping by his office, students came up front and asked more questions after class. Nick mentioned it to Helen once and she gave him a look.

“What?”

“You’ve become more approachable since Stephen started working for you.”

“I have not!” Nick denied.

Helen smiled. “I knew the two of you would get along.”

She was gone before Nick could ask her what she meant, but the comment niggled at him for the rest of the day.

“Did Helen suggest you work for me?” Nick asked Stephen later that evening while they were reading papers.

Stephen gave Nick a confused look, then he blushed. “No,” he said. “We agreed that I should work for someone else.”

Nick held his tongue and didn’t say ‘because you were sleeping together’.

“But she, uh, specifically told me _not_ to work for you.”

“Did she,” Nick said.

“She said you were curmudgeonly and couldn’t keep an assistant.”

“Did she,” Nick said again. “And so you, what, decided that was exactly what you wanted in a boss?”

Stephen chuckled. “No. I went to the Dean’s office to see what was available, and he sent me down here.”

“You could’ve refused,” Nick said.

Stephen ducked his head. “I like a challenge.”

Nick let it go, but the next day he stopped by Phillips’ office to query about why he’d sent Stephen to him.

“As I recall, Helen thought the two of you would be a good fit,” Phillips said.

Before Nick could say something about Helen he’d regret, mainly because it would cause problems for Stephen, Phillips continued. “How would you like to head an expedition this summer?”

“What?” Nick said, caught off-guard. “I thought there wasn’t enough money for two expeditions this year.”

“There isn’t. Jamison had to back out for personal reasons. The money’s yours if you can come up with a plan by the end of the week.”

“I . . . yes!” Nick said.

Phillips waved Nick away, and Nick didn’t waste time arguing.

~*~

“Two things,” Nick said when Stephen showed up that afternoon after his class.

Stephen raised an eyebrow as he lowered his bag onto the seat of the chair, but didn’t speak.

“First, Helen played us.”

“What do you mean?”

“She set this up, you working for me.”

“She told me not to . . .” Stephen trailed off.

“Exactly,” Nick said. “Knowing you’d do the exact opposite. She said she knew we’d get along,” he added, as if it was the worst thing anyone had ever said.

Stephen gave Nick a look. “And that makes you angry?”

“You’re bloody right it does! I’m angry because Helen thinks she knows me so well, because she thought I’d sleep with a student, and because she was damned well right. We do get on.”

Stephen looked like he was trying to hide a grin.

“Doesn’t it piss you off at all that she was manipulating you?” Nick said.

Stephen shrugged. “I knew we were nearing the end of . . . whatever we were when she suggested I find another professor to TA for. Helen doesn’t work that way. I have to admit that I do find it rather humorous that she was trying to set me up with her husband.”

“Humorous,” Nick repeated. “Not odd? Strange? Utterly cracked?”

“Helen was right about a lot of things,” Stephen said.

Nick had to look away from Stephen before he acted on his desire to kiss Stephen. “I think that’s what pisses me off the most. How do you feel about going on an expedition with me?”

Stephen blinked. “How did you get an expedition? I mean, yes, but how . . . ?”

“Jamison had to back out. We need to have a plan by the end of the week.”

“That gives us . . . two days,” Stephen said.

Nick nodded.

“So, business as usual, then.”

“It would seem so.”

“Nick,” Stephen said.

Nick wasn’t caught off-guard by the kiss this time, in fact he’d sort of been expecting it, and still he didn’t stop Stephen. Instead, he curled his hand around the back of Stephen’s head and deepened the kiss. Stephen moaned and kissed Nick until they both needed to breathe.

“I didn’t expect that,” Stephen admitted.

“Me, neither,” Nick said, referring to his own response. “I don’t suppose you locked the door when you came in.”

“I didn’t know I was going to kiss you when I came in.”

“We shouldn’t,” Nick said as he leaned back against the desk and pulled Stephen between his legs. Nick should have _more_ resolve now that he knew Helen had thrown them together, not less, as if having her permission, her blessing, made it okay. Stephen was still a student.

“Please tell me we’re going to,” Stephen said.

Nick was helpless in the face of the breathless quality of Stephen’s voice, the hopeful expression on his face. “We’re going to,” he said. “But not now,” Nick added when Stephen leaned in for another kiss. “Because anyone could walk in . . .”

“I could lock the door,” Stephen said, his breath warm against the side of Nick’s neck as he rubbed his cheek along Nick’s jaw.

“. . . and we need to submit a plan for an expedition in two days.”

Stephen groaned in protest, but he pulled back a little bit.

“Where would you like to go?” Nick said.

“Portugal,” Stephen said.

Nick’s mind flashed back to the Draconyx artifact he’d found, the first one Stephen had asked him about. “That would be lovely,” he said, imagining the two of them hiking in Portugal. “I’m not sure it’s sexy enough for the University.”

Stephen raised his eyebrows.

“Not that kind of sexy,” Nick said, blushing. He changed the subject. “There have been some strange sightings in South America of something that was reportedly a Fukuiraptor.”

“Didn’t they live in what is now Japan?” Stephen said.

“Yes. During the Early Cretaceous.”

“What happened to it? The recent one, not the ones that died 65 million years ago.”

“The government killed it after it killed several small herd animals and household pets, and attacked a child. They’re claiming it was an extremely large lizard that escaped from a zoo.”

“And you don’t believe them?”

“No, I don’t,” Nick said, ignoring Stephen’s teasing.

“You don’t think Fukuiraptors still exist?”

“Of course I don’t, Stephen,” Nick said. “But what if someone did find a way to genetically recreate them?”

“You mean, like in the movies?”

Nick didn’t reply, just waited.

“Nick, that’s ridiculous!”

“Where else would it have come from?”

“I don’t know, but surely they were mistaken.”

“What if they weren’t?” Nick posed.

“The eco-system would be devastated if there were suddenly more predators like the Fukuiraptor.”

“I agree. Your tracking skills would come in handy for this one. Stephen, how do you feel about rain forests?”

The End

**Author's Note:**

> _“Where else would it have come from?”_
> 
> Where, indeed.


End file.
